Look, casting Johnny Depp as pretty much anything is a no-brainer these days, especially at Disney. “The Lone Ranger” didn’t dent his star power one little bit, and if they do end up casting him as Dr. Strange, that’s intriguing.

What is more important, though, is who they hire to direct, and I think that’s the truth with all the Marvel movies at this point. I’m excited about “Guardians Of The Galaxy,” and sure, part of it is because I find the notion of a gun-toting raccoon with a bad attitude so unbelievably crazy that I can’t believe that’s actually part of a real movie that will play in real movie theaters. But the reason I have faith that the film will actually be something new, something we haven’t seen from Marvel before, is because I’ve spoken to James Gunn and I’ve seen how much room they’ve given him to define the world the way he wants to.

With “Ant-Man,” I am excited because I want to see what Edgar Wright does with the notion of staging fight scenes no one’s ever staged before. It was Devin Faraci who dubbed the fighting style “size-fu” after we got our first look at it a few Comic-Cons ago, and that’s thrilling to me. Wright already shoots action unlike anyone else in the business, and unleashing him on something as strange as Ant-Man means it won’t look like any other Marvel movie, or any other action movie, frankly. Today’s casting of Michael Douglas shocked me a bit. I’m not sure how I pictured Hank Pym, but making him significantly older than the other main heroes we’ve seen in the Marvel Universe so far sets up some interesting implications. I no longer feel like I have to tiptoe around describing what Wright and co-writer Joe Cornish have planned for “Ant-Man” since Wright pointed out today that he basically spilled the beans to Ed Douglas back in 2006. If we learn that Pym’s whole career was a secret, something that the public was totally unaware of, it makes him a different character than the Pym we know from the comics. I think there’s something really interesting about Ant-Man’s whole career having been in the past, before any of the events we’ve seen in the Marvel films so far.

“Ant-Man” is the first movie after “The Avengers: Age Of Ultron,” and “Dr. Strange” will most likely be the film after that. It’s been the pet project of Kevin Feige for the entire time they’ve been making this movies, and I think it’s actually a good sign that they didn’t rush to make it in the first wave of stuff. You have to win the audience over to the rules of your universe before you can start doing the really out-there stuff, and any faithful version of “Dr. Strange” will be about as weird as mainstream filmmaking gets. If Depp does end up signed for the film, that gives them a huge commercial leg up, and they can take a risk on a director who will bring something unique to the table.

It’s also going to be interesting to see what other Phase Three films they announce, because the end of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” pretty much shatters what we know about the Avengers so far and who we know as the Avengers. There are some big narrative threads that will be left dangling by the mega-sequel, and playing those storylines out before bringing everyone back together for “Avengers 3” is going to require some very deft storytelling even as the larger world-building is going on.

For now, take this as a report on the early part of the process. I have no doubt Depp has met with them about the role. How far they are into the process is the question, and if they do end up with Depp, I would love to know what the numbers are that get him to sign on. I can’t imagine how fat a deal that’s got to be for Depp.

It would make sense to cast Dr. Strange now, too, so if they feel like adding some sort of tag to any of the upcoming movies where they introduce him, they can do so knowing who will play the part in the stand-alone film that comes later.

In the meantime, Marvel’s got a big 2014 ahead, and we’ll bring you all the news on what’s shooting even as we discuss “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Guardians.”

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THANK you. Depp could be interesting but Cumberbatch would absolutely own the casual arrogance and haughtiness needed to portray Strange.

By: Brendan

01.14.2014 @ 7:15 AM

Same here…that just seems like a perfect match.

Honestly, Johnny Depp seems like a riskier move because I think his name tends to overshadow his projects, at least recently. It makes financial sense on paper, but I think it opens Marvel up to scrutiny it hasn’t dealt with to this point.

By: prettok

01.14.2014 @ 3:53 PM

Can Cumberbatch do a yank accent?

By: Geo

01.14.2014 @ 6:38 AM

This is NOT an article about Johnny Depp eyeing Dr.Strange.

It should say “Marvels plans for the upcoming year(s)”!

By: Anonymous

01.14.2014 @ 1:43 PM

The word you’re looking for is ‘context’.

By: Terry T

01.14.2014 @ 6:52 AM

Nice! I (and a lot of others no doubt) thought he’d be great years ago. Get Tim Burton to direct (or Guillermo del Toro) and the initial Dormamu story (with Clea too) and print the $$$.

Depp should replace Downey as Iron Man when he’s done. It would give Depp another franchise, albeit one less quirky, and would give star power to the recasting.

By: Primogen

01.14.2014 @ 5:01 PM

By the time the third Avengers film is released in 2018, RDJ will be 53-years-old and Depp will be 54. That’s kind of old for Depp to start suiting up in a new series of Iron Man films. (Yes, I know Michael Douglas is 69, but I imagine that his Hank Pym will be more scientist than action hero).

By: Primogen

01.14.2014 @ 5:10 PM

D’oh! I take that comment back. By starring in Dr. Strange, Depp would be starting a new action series while in his early fifties.

By: Stephen

01.14.2014 @ 10:35 AM

Pym’s career isn’t going to be before the events of Captain America, is it? Michael Douglas isn’t *that* old. But if he’s superheroing in, say, the late 60s/70s, I wonder if we could see him meeting up with John Slattery’s Howard Stark? Or even an aged-up Hayley Atwell?

Having a young Hank Pym character in the Marvel universe would make it relatively cost-effective to have a genuine superhero cameo in flashback scenes in the various Marvel TV shows.

By: Mark

01.14.2014 @ 3:56 PM

I could see the next movie (or maybe even this one) setting up his successor: either a younger Ant-Man, or more likely the Wasp.

By: name

01.14.2014 @ 2:10 PM

I hope Kevin Feige meets with Richard Stanley.

By: Dan

01.14.2014 @ 3:49 PM

Johnny Depp–the bad kind of good.

By: Mark

01.14.2014 @ 4:03 PM

I hope they are inspired by Roger Stern’s run on Dr. Strange. He focused on the character’s humanity, and made it seem like there were specific limitations on his magic powers. The movie shouldn’t be “realistic”, but it does need to have a consistent set of ground rules, so the audience will know what is easy and what is perilous.

Depp earlier in his career would have been a no-brainer, but I wonder if his salary will discourage Marvel. My preference is to find a promising newcomer for Strange, and maybe Depp for Mordo (or the Ancient One, if Depp wants a smaller role).

By: Sam Little

01.14.2014 @ 7:00 PM

Ugh. Not Depp, please. Love the idea of Cumberbatch though. Heck, no reason Strange can’t be an Englishman in New York even though I’d imagine Cumberbatch is capable of a fine US accent if need be.

By: Loo

10.28.2015 @ 6:45 AM

Depp is too good for you.

By: Just Drawn That Way

01.14.2014 @ 7:11 PM

I’ll second Guillermo del Toro. For my part, I always thought Oded Fehr would make for an interesting Dr. Strange. But I’m not foolish enough to think that would actually come to pass.

By: Drake

01.14.2014 @ 7:42 PM

I’ve been a little worried about the Dr. Strange adaptation because the character is basically Tony Stark, only with magic. They even look alike. But with an actor like Johnny Depp in the role, this could be interesting.

By: Nicholas

01.14.2014 @ 9:30 PM

I wish you knew how to spell dude, you’ve got some major spelling errors. did you rush this because of the scoop? or what? christ.

By: Mr Dark

01.14.2014 @ 11:29 PM

I wish you knew this is where people go to get Marvel scoop and not grammar lessons.

By: goodhorse

01.14.2014 @ 11:54 PM

A few years ago I heard that Patrick Dempsey was keen on the role and thought at the time it would be a good fit.

Having said that, Depp would be great in the part but the cost of getting him would put a lot of weight on production and might cause the makers to wind back on the weirder (and ‘funner’) aspects of the comic.

I also concur Cumberbatch would be an inspired choice – but he’s one o those actors that would be an inspired choice for anything.

By: Logo Lou

01.14.2014 @ 11:59 PM

Lots of good actors could be a great Dr Strange. Cumberbatch would be great, but I hope Marvel thinks outside the “white guy” box at some point. Strange could be latino, asian, indian, etc. But I agree with as Drew, the director is really the make or break thing about a Dr. Strange film.

By: S.D.

01.15.2014 @ 4:12 AM

I find it interesting that Marvel is willing to take chances on the types of stories they are telling, but unwilling to take chances on the types of leads in those stories. So far it has been an unbroken string of white guys, and as a women of colour I’m starting to wonder if it’s worth my time to continue to support their projects. I have liked many of the marvel movies, and I loved the first Captain America and the sequel is probably the movie I’m most looking forward to this summer. I’m not against having a white guy be the lead of a Marvel movie, I just wish he wasn’t the lead of every Marvel movie.